GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,596
GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H - Don’t let size fool you. GIGABYTE’s latest AM2 based board, the GA-MA69GM-S2H, packs a wallop in its Micro ATX package. It easily stayed with or ahead of the rest of the AM2 crowd, and even managed to close the performance gap with the Intel Core2 based systems.

The Gigabyte GA-M69GM-S2H motherboard is a small form factor builder’s dream. If you note above, we used a low power AMD CPU, the BE-2350. This is a sub-$100 processor and we stretched it out to 2.6GHz with an extremely healthy front side bus. If you are looking at building a LAN box on a budget with solid overclocking overhead, the GA-M69GM-S2H is quite simply a good candidate. As many of you know, outside of a few RTS games, most of our gaming experiences are still very GPU limited, and that make this a solid choice in small form factor boxes.
Click to expand...
 
Ever since I read the review on Tweaktown, and a month later in Computer Shopper Mag, I've been wanting this mobo for 4 months now. For $77 and I can connect it to my HDTV montior, I just can't wait until i can get it.....
 
Kyle, you forgot the link. :)
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM4MCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

I've been trying to get my hands on this board for a couple of weeks already, but xPCGear still hasn't changed its status from pre-order. :( (It's an exchange for something else, so no- I can't go to NewEgg.)

Looks like a winner!

One correction to Morry's thoughts:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM4MCw3LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA== said:
Throw in the fact that the board uses the newly introduced AMD 690G chipset, and the results are simply amazing.
Click to expand...
690G isn't "newly introduced." It's actually been around for almost six months, but this works really well as a 690G Reload. AMD put some extra emphasis on overclocking and performance, and the result is spectacular. In fact, AMD is touting it for HD playback- with an X2 running around 2GHz (+/-200MHz, depending on codec), this will do full-screen 1080p playback through the onboard Radeon X1250. :eek:

There is also absolutely NO mention of SurroundView testing, which is why I'm so interested in this board. :(
 
If you ever get tired of saying 'the audio quality was undistorted and pleasing' for every motherboard, you can download this free audio analyzer, connect a loopback cable from the audio out to the in, and get real metrics of the noise, distortion, and crosstalk of the A/D and D/A of the onboard sound.

http://audio.rightmark.org/download.shtml
 
I was building a home server awhile ago and almost went with this board. I decided on a cheaper one since mATX generally are the same IMO. Now I wish I had. Great review. Interesting to see what the 7 series chipsets will yield.
 
How does this board compare to the similar model GA-MA69GM-S2, that does not come with onboard video? I assume that they both perform the same but I guess for the extra $10 that the GA-MA69GM-S2H costs you do get onboard video that includes HDMI. Very nice.
 
drlava said:
If you ever get tired of saying 'the audio quality was undistorted and pleasing' for every motherboard, you can download this free audio analyzer, connect a loopback cable from the audio out to the in, and get real metrics of the noise, distortion, and crosstalk of the A/D and D/A of the onboard sound.

http://audio.rightmark.org/download.shtml
Click to expand...

Heh, I agree, I'd like the reviews to get a little more in depth when it comes to the audio as well....since all new mobo's come with HD 7 or 8 channel audio now, how does that really compare to the XiFi cards and other exteral audio cards out there.

I've never used anything better then the Nvidia 5.1 audio on my nForce2 motherboard, and it sounds just as undistorted and pleasing as anything I've heard to my ears, but a more scientific approach would be useful I think.

That's about the only critique I can find with the reviews here....:)

I've been wanting a HTPC for a while now, and this seems like the mobo I've been waiting for....built in HDMI that's the first I've heard of a mobo having that, which is :eek: awesome!
 
Anyone got the link to download the bios with the voltage options? It's not posted on gigabytes site,
 
drlava said:
If you ever get tired of saying 'the audio quality was undistorted and pleasing' for every motherboard, you can download this free audio analyzer, connect a loopback cable from the audio out to the in, and get real metrics of the noise, distortion, and crosstalk of the A/D and D/A of the onboard sound.

http://audio.rightmark.org/download.shtml
Click to expand...

Indeed, I could say "undistorted and pleasing" when I hear the single beep my computer's "PC Speaker" makes when POST is successful. :p

But, if you're using digital output (for the audio), that kind of summary is fine, I think.
 
I was just wondering how this motherboard is able to beat the intel setups it was compared to in the test involving Photoshop and Quake running at the same time. Am I missing something here?
 
ivzk said:
I was just wondering how this motherboard is able to beat the intel setups it was compared to in the test involving Photoshop and Quake running at the same time. Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...

If I had to guess I'd say it was the lower cache/memory latency advantage in conjunction with the very nice disk performance.

PS uses a scratch/swap file and Q3 has always been sensitive to memory performance.
 
Got this board a few weeks ago and built a nice little gaming/all around desktop Using a Sugo SG01, X2 5600 and G.Skill 2x2048 DDR800, I had allot of headaches with this board, and it's too bad because I really wanted to like it... One of my Ram slot went bad after a few days causing several hours of trouble shooting time.

Last night my new Biostar TA690G came in to replace the Gigabyte, I like it better already. The expansion slot layout is better for me, I can use my EVGA 7900 GTX and my X-Fi Fatality and I have a free PCI slot in-between so I'm not choking the Video cards fan intake. It had no issues detecting my G.Skill memory, and even though New Egg says it has a 4 gig limit, Biostars website says it's 8 and I had it running with 6 in all four slots with no issues.

Also, don't plan on using more than 2 SATA ports if you install the Gigabyte board into a SG01 case, because the ports are mounted parallel to the main PCB, they conflict with the HD cage in a Sugo SG01.

W/o having voltage adjustments, this gigabyte board is a big disappointment, until a newer bios is released unlocking those adjustments, I'd stay away from it.
 
Wouldn't a review of something like this asked a couple questions and gotten answers....

Does the HDMI output include the digital audio?

Is the HDMI output HDCP compliant?

Kind of important when making any reference to something being the foundation of a HTPC, yes/no?
 
xX_Jack_Carver_Xx said:
Wouldn't a review of something like this asked a couple questions and gotten answers....

Does the HDMI output include the digital audio?

Is the HDMI output HDCP compliant?

Kind of important when making any reference to something being the foundation of a HTPC, yes/no?
Click to expand...
Don't know about HDMI audio, but HDCP is pretty much a requirement for HDMI. (Not actually in the specifications, but the phrase "de facto" comes to mind.)
 
xX_Jack_Carver_Xx said:
Wouldn't a review of something like this asked a couple questions and gotten answers....

Does the HDMI output include the digital audio?

Is the HDMI output HDCP compliant?

Kind of important when making any reference to something being the foundation of a HTPC, yes/no?
Click to expand...

the HDMI output includes the audio
 
Did the chipsets run HOT when you tested the GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H?

I've read on other websites they were very hot, but my Biostar TA690G chipsets are not even really warm at all, almost cool to the touch.
 
I'm curious to hear more about your chip temps (even if only perceived) of the gigabyte vs the Biostar

I just bought the MA69GM and on it's 1st build swapped out the NB heatsink for a Thermalright HR-05, which was a mistake in hindsight. It obscures access/use of both of the PCIe slots, unless you have very very short PCIe 1x (maybe a 4x in the 16x slot) cards (length, not height)

I only did the swap immed. to avoid hassles of pulling the mobo in/out of the case.

I'm looking for suggestions of other coolers that may fit this mobo.

Thanks
 
I'm test installed WHS to this board and found it's driver support to be lacking in the win 2003 area.

In 2003, Cool N Quiet seems not to work, but there is one other AMD CPU (non- ma69 mobo) claiming they got it working in WHS.

Some of the other CPU drivers and utils either won't install, update, or run in 2003. So determining things like CnQ are a bit hit or miss, although I'm sure in my case.

Most annoying was that WHS didn't like trying to use SATA/AHCI mode at all, but there may be a way around that too...

Overall I'd say this board has some great features towards HTPC and may run 2003, but the edges are rough. I made this hardware choice as a 'if one purpose works, fine, else use it as XP/HTPC for low $$.

There are very very few places I'm seeing posting about this (newish) hardware, and for the $ there are no Intel alternatives that I found have the chance to be as energy efficient as the general hardware behind this mobo. If I wasn't leery about BioStar from a lack of experience with them, it may have been a stong alternative although maybe not as good as a HTPC.

XP install and setup was far better, although both AMD and Gigabyte have some stuff to learn about using .exe only installers for drivers and providing better versioning info.

Getting all the drivers setup for slipstreaming and or just the latest takes some tedious doing to know what's latest, and even now I'm not sure it was all OK with only one XP build of this hw before I wiped it and tried WHS. And of course this still isn't even mentioning the 2 sided coin that is the x1250 and it's drivers/.NET requirement and sliipstreaming. I'm content with the fact the IGP is an AMD/ATI and may take the extra step to install/setup post-OS install.

So if others are interested, I'm looking to share and ask/answer.

Oh, and to answer an earlier Q I saw asked but not answered - according to the documentation the HDMI does support audio and HDCP, but I have no hardware to prove it.

Thanks,
Fish
 
Incase anyone reads this here, I don't want to leave 'bad' info hanging to confuse any future readers.

There are specific steps you need to do for the driver to install, and following them (as I had) seems to be sufficient with ONE extra note:
CnQ functionality 'magically started working' after a cold reboot instead of a warm reboots - something I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere.

WHS (2003) still won't load/accept CPU drivers v1.3.2.16, but I'm grudgingly willing to accept that.

WHS still won't run with SATA AHCI/RAID drivers loaded as the boot drive, but I did trick them into installing (post-build, the above may change if I can get them to F6 load at build/install time)

L8r
 
I will know more about the chipset temp comparison soon, I have the Biostar and ordered the Gigabyte. Somebody has to do it. :D

I have an old PC with XP installed somewhere, one almost dead laptop with XP, a new laptop with Vi$ta, and a LOT of PCs with Linux, sorry no Windows Home Server. I **might** install Win2003 64bit on my dual CPU server since I already have it.

I'll do some testing on the Gigabyte with XP, like I did the Biostar, before loading Linux on it.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can anyone provide me memory suggestions they are using with this mobo and BIOS vF1. I am planning on 2 x 1gb. I RMA'd my board and will be getting a replacement.

Just purchased this MOBO myself. was having trouble with 2 sticks of Corsair XMS 6400c RAM. One stick was ok, 2 gave me a BIOS graphics error (one long beep) It was 2.1v. Memory was fine in another machine.

The review from this site:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aGlzdWFzdA==

Shows DRAM adjustment screens with BIOS F3a. I updated the the BIOS to F3A to adjust my memory voltage. According to the QBios app I sucessfully updated my BIOS. System, however, will not post. Not even a beep. Seems like I hosed my board. Might anyone reading this have another opinion and experience with this board and memory that works?
 
Use SuperTalent memory. It is 1.8V, cheap, and works out of the box. I'm using 800 (T8UX2GC5) now in the Gigabyte and have used 667 (T6UX2GC5) in my Biostar TA690G system, no problems. Also memtested it in my Dell Optiplex at work.

http://www.ewiz.com/query.php?categ...from+current+results&ob=&myanchor=#displaytop

Newegg also sells it too, Ewiz takes about a week to get Newegg is faster, 3-days, choice is yours.

More info here too.
http://forums.anandtech.com/message...=2036985&highlight_key=y&keyword1=supertalent
 
At first I'd like to say hello to everybody here and thank [H] guys for doing great job reviewing all the stuff.
This review is great, and it actually made me pick up the board for my brother's "bestbang for buck" system.

The only thing that is confusing is Gigabyte's strange approach to customers, by not supplying (at least officially) the voltage regulation enable BIOS. Why is that? I find it odd, as I really don't like windows based overclocking.

And having a pair of RAM sticks that needs 2.1V for optimum performance while not beeing able to utilize it is annoying.

Hope GB will update the public BIOS soon, for now I'll try droping a line to You, [H] guys :)
 
IR Sanchez said:
At first I'd like to say hello to everybody here and thank [H] guys for doing great job reviewing all the stuff.
This review is great, and it actually made me pick up the board for my brother's "bestbang for buck" system.

The only thing that is confusing is Gigabyte's strange approach to customers, by not supplying (at least officially) the voltage regulation enable BIOS. Why is that? I find it odd, as I really don't like windows based overclocking.

And having a pair of RAM sticks that needs 2.1V for optimum performance while not beeing able to utilize it is annoying.

Hope GB will update the public BIOS soon, for now I'll try droping a line to You, [H] guys :)
Click to expand...

Gigabyte has explained to me that they will be releasing the F3 series bios to the public, but the one we have is still in beta.

Here is a link to the latest F3B BIOS.

http://www.hummercommunity.com/files/hfpics/ma69gms2.F3b
 
IR Sanchez said:
Thank You, I'll give it a shot :cool:
It's also good to hear that Gigabyte is working on it.
Click to expand...

So I flashed this F3B bios, but still there is no voltage adjustment possible :(

Guess I'll have to wait tor the next update... it's a shame because a pair of 1GB OCZ SpecOps rated at 2.2V is shouting for more Voltage ;)
 
IR Sanchez said:
So I flashed this F3B bios, but still there is no voltage adjustment possible :(

Guess I'll have to wait tor the next update... it's a shame because a pair of 1GB OCZ SpecOps rated at 2.2V is shouting for more Voltage ;)
Click to expand...

However though what is odd is that I put both sticks of my RAM a CAS: 4: 4-4-4-12 timings and it is smooth as butter. And the stick are supposed to run with 2.2V in order to work right w/o instablilty.

Edit: NVM I was able to tighten the timings but still have to run it at CAS: 5. Kyle did you use the F3B Bios or the official F3 bios? This is driving me nuts not being able to OC. :(
 
I just got this board on Friday, tried installing windows xp multiple times and am having problems. After the xp copies files to drive, reboots it either says "operating system error" or hard disk failure does not even recognize xp install prep files. I've tried multiple times with 3 different drives, 2-40gb WD and 1 maxtor 20GB. The 20GB did work, but blued screen a couple of times, after updating the BIOS it will no longer boot to xp. I then tried to reinstall XP again but it failes.

current specs: GA-MA69GN-S2H bios F3A, AMD X2 4000, samsung pc4200 533mhx(2-512)


I figured it out, wrong IDE cable.
 
I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for but i found this on the net

"This is the advanced chipset features menu that can still only be found by hitting Ctrl-F1 at the main BIOS screen. The organization of the overclocking options is well done and starts to resemble the NVIDIA 600 series' somewhat."

James
 
Here are the MD5 hashes for those that care......

F3A from Gigabyte's site:
19F6409DB92725D2AE8CE30709F8BD82

F3A from [H]:
5836EE111775C3ECF7A889F304029AC5
 
Hey there everyone,

does anybody know what the problem is with this board and the CPU multiplier going down when one comes out of Sleep/Standby. Every time I put my PC to standby the CPU multiplier goes down from 11.5 to 5 and the speed gets reduced to almost half. Does anybody know what I can do to fix this or do I have to wait for an official BIOS from Gigabyte?

BTW I am using the F3a BIOS that Kyle gave me if that will do anything.
 
It happens to me also.

I also get problems with cold boots,where resets and going into the bios and hitting f10 works fine.

I have just been putting them off as a beta bios thing.
 
I think it's ctrl & f1 together (while in the bios) to show more options.
 
edorf said:
This board do not support 4gb RAM running Vista 64 bit.

You really should test all boards with max RAM and Vista 64bit and Linux 64bit. Such a test really put boards in perspective, and sometimes turn everything up side down. This board is such a case.

This board is closer to trash than a system builders dream. Just wait til the end user desides to upgrade to 4gb, and you promised 16gb support.
Click to expand...


I heard about the problem,so i thought I would give it a shot.

I put in 4g of ram and spare IDE drive for the install ,and loaded 64bit vista.

Got some weird white lines in the display.

Updated the bios to the latest one on the web site (10/8 ? )

Now everything seems to be going fine.

I put in the latest drivers for the hardware ,but havn't done any updates with the os yet.

Installed the UT3 demo to compair frame rates,and that ran fine too.

Is there anything in particular I should do to check for issues??

I would keep vista if the updated bios had voltage adjustments.....:mad:
 
I really like this board for my HTPC because, from what I am reading, the onboard video (with HDMI/HDCP) can handle watching and recording HDTV.

I jumped on the opportunity to purchase 2gb of OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2-800PC2 6400 for an extremely low price last week and I am now wondering if it was the right call. The ram is 4-4-4-15 and runs at 2.2v (some sites say 2.4v).

What bothers me mroe than the CAS is the voltage, from reading these forums and a few other sites it seems most people get better production from ram running at 1.9v or 1.7v.

Oh, my other question about this board is the RAID. I plan to use this as my HTPC to store my DVD's on. According to Gigabyte's website, Integrated SATA 3Gb/s with RAID function, am I to understand I can have a max of 3 GB of hard drive capacity? Or is that 3GB per Sata slot?
 
The only issue I have run into with the reaper memory on the board is ,the hight of the heat spreader and the cpu cooler.I have to use the two outside slots for clearance.

If I understand the question about the drives...The 3gb is a thru-put rating and not a size limitation.

So grab some big drives,and avoid Raid 0.:)
 
That's good news about the ram, I can deal with the size of it for now. You suggest larger drives instead of a few 500gb's though? I'll be ripping a lot of HD/BR movies which take up almost 50gb worth of space. I was goign to grab 2-3 500gb hard drives and let er rip. Maybe if the raid doesn't work that well I'll have to buy some tb's...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top